Fact Check: Muslim men set fire inside train? No, find the truth here

A video showing two men setting fire inside a train is being widely shared on social media. Several users claim that the individuals involved belong to the Muslim community, referring to them as "Jihadis."

One such post in Kannada reads, "Look at the actions of jihadi junk scrap children who cannot tolerate the country's development." (Translated) (Archive)

Similar claims can be accessed here and here.

Fact Check

NewsMeter found this claim to be false. The Railway Protection Force (RPF) identified the individuals in the video as Santosh and Prudhviraj. The video is not recent and does not show a communal attack.

A reverse image search of keyframes from the video led us to reports by Organiser Weekly and Hindustan Times from June 2022. Organiser Weekly reported that on June 17, 2022, a violent mob attacked Secunderabad Railway Station in Hyderabad, damaging railway property as part of the Agnipath protests. Another post by the RSS-affiliated publication identified the individuals in the video as Santosh and Prudhviraj, confirming that Government Railway Police/RPF had arrested them under various sections of the IPC, PDPP Act, and Railways Act.

Hindustan Times also reported on the incident, stating that army aspirants had set train coaches on fire at Secunderabad Railway Station. The report mentioned that one of the suspects seen in the viral video, identified as Prithviraj, had been arrested.

Following these leads, we conducted further keyword searches and found reports by Sakshi Post and ETV Bharat from June 2022. The Sakshi Post article included a screengrab from the viral video and stated that army aspirant Prudhviraj from Adilabad was the first to set railway coaches on fire. It also mentioned other accused individuals, including Santosh, and noted that the court had placed 10 people under judicial remand in connection with the Secunderabad Railway Station vandalism case.

ETV Bharat reported that Santosh, a resident of Kamareddy, and Prithviraj, a resident of Adilabad, were seen carrying petrol and setting train bogies on fire.

Other major news outlets such as Aaj Tak and Amar Ujala also carried the viral video in their reports, confirming that it was from the Agnipath protests at Secunderabad Railway Station on June 17, 2022. These reports included an official post from the RPF, which identified the two accused in the video as Santosh and Prudvi. The RPF stated that over 60 people were arrested for the incident under various sections of the IPC, PDPP Act, and Railways Act.

It is to be noted that media reports have identified the two accused seen in the video as Santosh and Prudhviraj (or Prithviraj).

The viral claim that Muslims were responsible for setting fire to a train is completely false. The video shows protests against the Agnipath scheme in 2022, with the accused individuals being identified as Santosh and Prudhviraj, both of whom have Hindu names. There is no communal angle to the incident.